The NHS Litigation Authority (NHSLA) has hired the NSPCC's former general counsel Catherine Dixon as its new chief executive as the body gears up to review its legal panels.

Dixon joined the NHSLA earlier this month after two years as GC at the children's charity, replacing former NHSLA chief executive Steve Walker, who has retired from the role. As chief executive Dixon, who has previously worked as head of legal at Bupa and in private practice at Eversheds, will also have responsibility for the NHSLA's legal arm.

Her move comes as the NHSLA gears up for an overdue review of its two legal panels, with the confirmed line-up to run from April 2013.

The last overhaul saw 10 firms appointed for clinical claims work and seven for non-clinical, with numbers on the new panels set to be broadly similar, according to Dixon.

The clinical negligence panel, last reviewed in 2008, currently comprises Clyde & Co, DAC Beachcroft, Bevan Brittan, Browne Jacobson, Capsticks, Hill Dickinson, Kennedys, Ward Hadaway, Hempsons and Weightmans. Meanwhile, the non-clinical panel, reviewed in 2009, is made up of Clydes, Weightmans, Browne Jacobson, Hill Dickinson, Kennedys, Veitch Penny and Ward Hadaway.

Clydes has taken over the two spots from legacy Barlow Lyde & Gilbert following the firms' merger in November last year.

The review will see Dixon pushing advisers for value for money and comes after the NHSLA in February 2011 extended the three-year term of its clinical negligence panel until this year.

The NSPCC is yet to appoint a new GC.